Car-door



(No Model.)

.1. V. KELLY.

GAR D003..` No. 523,211. Patented July 17,1894.

. .2v I I I I I I I I "G I 0 @(D D 1 I IIJII (D Z/ SS SS v L S e VTATESCAR-Doon.

SPECIFICATION forming' part of Letters-Patent N0. 523,211, dated July17, 1894.

Application filed September 8,1893. Serial No. 485,067. (No model.) i

T0 obl/Z whom it may concern,.-

Be it known that I, ISAAC V. KELLY, a citizen of the United States,residing at Huntington, in the county of Cabell and State of WestVirginia, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inOar-Doors; and Ido declare the following to be afull, clear, and exactdescription of th'e invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same, reference being hadto the accompanying drawings, and to the letters of reference markedthereon, which form a part of this specification.

My invention relates to freight car doors.

It has for its object to provide a doorxof this character which will iitiiush with the side of the car and which will not be subjected to theside wipe so common with the ordinary sliding doors; furthermore, toprovide adoor which when slid opposite the doorway will automaticallyswing into place; furthermore, to provide means for manually swingingthe door into place and for swinging it out of its doorway; and nally,to provide a door which shall be simple and strong of construction,durable in use, and comparatively inexpensive to manufacture. f

With .these objects in View the invention consists in certain featuresof construction and combination of parts which will be hereinafterdescribed and claimed.

Heretofore rail road men have experienced much trouble and have beensubjected to the loss of life and property by the side wipe or in otherwords, the striking of the edge of the door or. the irons by which theyare secured to the car by timbers'or other freight projecting from theplatform of a station or other place, thus tearing the door from itshangers and allowing it to drop between and on the tracks. My inventionaims to overcome the serious effects of these side wipes.

In the drawings-Figure 1, is a side view of a freight car illustratingthe invention showing the door seated in Vclosed position. Fig. 2, is atop View showing in full lines the door away from its seat, and indotted lines the position assumed by the track and` co-acting parts,when the door is seated. l

A denotes the side of a freight car and B the door-way.

C denotes a'track, preferably of angle-iron,

the ends of which are secured to hingesD so that it may swing toward oraway from the car side. The door E has hangers F at its top that supportwheels G which travel on the track.

Near the front end of the track and on its inner side is a stop pin IIwhich is engaged by one of the door vhangers when the door is beingmoved toward the door way.

I denotes a stop located adjacent to one of the hinges to prevent itswinging too far backward.

J denotes a spring secured to the side of the car and having its freeend projecting parallel with and bearing against the track in the pathof the wheels. The free extremity of the spring is curved outward, andthat portion of the spring directly opposite the end of the track isprovided with a detent or shoulder K against which the end of the trackabuts vwhen it is swung outward and by which it is retained in thisoutward position against the action of the spring, and thereby holdingthe track from swingingin,before the door reaches the stop on track,when door is being closed.

The operation of the parts thus far described is as follows: Assume thetrack to be swung outward with the one end bearing against the stop I,and the other end against the detent of 'the spring and the door on thetrack adjacent to the stop I. It being desired to close the door it isslid toward the opening and when it arrives nearly opposite the same thefront wheel strikes the curved end of the spring and forces it outwardfreeing the end of the track from the detent, thehanger then strikingthe stop pin on the track swings the hinges past their dead-center andallows the spring to swing the track inward thus seating the door flushwith the side'of the car. The spring is not relied upon solely to swingthe y track inward in that when the hanger strikes the stop pin the doorusuallj7 has sufficient momentum to accomplish the desired result. Ihowever, prefer to usethe spring for this purpose in conjunction withthe stop pin.

To allow the door to easily enter its opening (its movement being on aslant) I bevel the edges of the door as shown at L and correspondingl-ybevel the jambs of the door.

The lower end of the door, and the sill may also be beveled to insure asnug fit which IOO when used on a refrigerator car will prevent the lossof cold air.

Having thus described the operation of the means for seating the door,Iwill now proceed to describe the mechanism for locking the door in itsseat and swinging it therefrom. Plates N, which will be termed frictionplates, are secured to the side of the car above and below the openingand each plate has a hooked end O. A rod P is secured in the door toturn, and has bent ends Q to engage the friction plates and a handle R,by which to turn it. When the door is swinging inward the bent ends ofthe rod take under the hooked ends of the friction plates and bydepressing the handle over a staple in the door a seal or padlock may besecured to the staple thus eiectively locking the door. When it isdesired to open the door the handle is turned in the opposite direction,and the free ends of therod engaging the friction plates force thedoorrand the track outward in the position shown in Fig. 2, when thedoor may be slid away from the opening.

have it distinctly understood that I do no limit myself to the preciseconstruction h rein shown and reserve to myself the right o make suchchanges as come within the sd ope of my invention.

Having thus fully described my invention, I claim and desire to secureby Letters Patent of the United States- 1. The combination with a cardoor having beveled door jambs, of a longitudinally and inwardlyswinging track, a door mounted to slide on said track and havingcorrespondingly beveled edges and means for swinging the track inward toclose the door way, substantially as herein described.

2. The combination with a ear having a longitudinally and inwardlyswinging track, of a door mounted to slide on said track and means forautomatically swinging the track inward when the door is opposite itsopening to seat the door therein said door and openifng laving bevelededges, substantially as set ort 3. The combination with a car having aswinging track, a door mounted to slide on said track, and means carriedby said door to swing automatically the track inward.

4. The combination with a car having a track hinged to its side, a doormounted to slide upon said track, means for holding the track away fromthe side of the car, and a device carried by the door for releasing themeans and allowing the track to be swung inward.

5. The combination with a car, a track having each end hinged thereto, adoor having hangers in which are journaled wheels to travel on saidtrack, a spring secured to the car side and having a curved endprojecting along side of the track and a detent to hold the trackagainst movement, whereby when the door is slid nearly opposite itsopening one of the wheels will press the springoutward and allow thedoor to swing into the opening.

6. The combination with a longitudinally and inwardly swinging tracksecured to the side of a car, of a door mounted to slide on said trackand having beveled edges to engage the correspondingly beveled edges ofthe door way, means for swinging automatically the track inward, andmeans for swinging it outward consisting of a rod having bent ends whichare adapted to be turned against friction plates secured to the side ofthe car.

7. The combination with a car of a track having each end hinged thereto,land provided with a stop pin, a door having hangers and adapted toslide on said track, means for holding the track away from the side ofthe car, wheels carried by the hangers and adapted to release the trackholding means in advance of the engagement of the hangers with the pinou the track.

In testimony whereof I affix my signatu re in presence of two witnesses.

ISAAC V. KELLY.

VVitnes'ses:

E. E WILLIAMs P. W. SCOTT.

